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Topic: Toy Fair 2009! (Read 11909 times)

True, as long as there is a table with a single Super Articulated Rebel Fleet Trooper on it in the Heisman pose (to demonstrate his articularity)

I'm down for a Sam Bradford Rebel Fleet Trooper action figure. Either single-carded, or as part of a Previews Exclusive Crimson and Cream Empire box set featuring Sam along with his Crimson and Cream squad mates Billy Vessels, Steve Owens, Billy Sims, and Jason White.

Sign me up.

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"The good news is that all that blood is actually ketchup. The bad news, however, is that all that ketchup is actually blood."

I dunno... "All these fan sites" don't ammount to a lot, really. Break down all the sites around the net, and besides Rebelscum there's few with what one could consider a "large fanbase" to them. Very few. Some have a non-existant base really. I think it's a bit of a mirage really.

And GI Joe supports a large convention EVERY year. Transformers have a pretty huge international following too, much larger than Star Wars seems to even have.

Toy Fair isn't about fans, it's about vendors. They will definitely be geared towards the lines they think will sell the most this years. Star Wars may or may not be a part of that.

Additionally, lots of the Iron Man and Transformers stuff will probably be kept secret and only shown to vendors. There will probably be lots of stuff we hear about but don't get photos of for those lines.

I think this year might be a bit better than usual. First, we haven't had all that much revealed to us thus far, both leaked and officially announced. Second, the display for SW might be kinda large due to the cartoon being something of a hit. I won't disagree that Hasbro's Boys focus will be on G.I Joe, Transformers 2, and whatever superhero films are coming out (Wolverine?) Compared to 2008, I think this year will have a lot more shown. Hasbro has had time to work on the figures, hasn't divided efforts of their Star Wars team (IJ in 2008), and doesn't have to worry about keeping a movie/product launch secret.

Kinda off topic, but I will agree that GI Joe and Transformers each give Hasbro more customers/collectors/fans/whatever than Star Wars. However, I believe that Star Wars overall has many more fans/collectors than the other two properties, due to the broader appeal of the movies and the sheer number of licensees.

I don't really disagree with anything Jesse said, but another consideration, at the moment, is shelf space. Target's current reset dedicates half an isle side to SW. This has to say something about Hasbro's commitment.

I think having a weekly TV show on the Cartoon Network is a much bigger draw than a movie.

I think Hasbro is in good shape with all three properties (GI Joe, Transformers, and Star Wars). There's always a Transformers cartoon running, the SW cartoon is a success and there apparently is a GI Joe cartoon starting up soon (if it hasn't already). So I think Hasbro would want to be strong with all three at Toy Fair.

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Peter

Letting my collecting OCD get the better of me on a DAILY basis... and loving EVERY minute of it!

I'm still not sure when (as in it could be more than a year from now or more). Especially based on it's absence from the TV series so far, and the AT-TE leg situation. Just call it an....educated guess.

The Turbo Tank would be my best guess too... if Hasbro wants to release something big in 2009 or 2010, it makes sense to make it Clone Wars related, and that's as good a prediction as any.

I think I'll be more than content though if we don't get any new big items in 2009... more of a space issue than anything.

It's not a guess, despite my phrasing in the original post.

Remember this? Apparently the Turbo Tank may have been posted on a list of items up for order by retailers. Availability may be as early as this spring.

I guess where it's going to be interesting is when you balance all of these things against the sales of both the Falcon and the AT-TE. Were the sales good enough that these flaws are within acceptable parameters? And will it permit Hasbro to proceed with more large vehicle projects? I don't think we're going to know the answer for some time.

I don't know if we're really going to know the outcome of the situation for 6 months to a year. Hasbro has said that they don't release sales figures. And I think Hasbro is likely to be vague if asked about things in the Q&A's. But having been to the stores, sales seem to have been solid. But there's the potential that the leg defect might deter Hasbro from doing big vehicles again.

Anyways, I'm just giving you a hard time. It's great that it looks like a Turbo Tank actually is coming and I think most of us around here are looking forward to it.

I guess where it's going to be interesting is when you balance all of these things against the sales of both the Falcon and the AT-TE. Were the sales good enough that these flaws are within acceptable parameters? And will it permit Hasbro to proceed with more large vehicle projects? I don't think we're going to know the answer for some time.

I don't know if we're really going to know the outcome of the situation for 6 months to a year. Hasbro has said that they don't release sales figures. And I think Hasbro is likely to be vague if asked about things in the Q&A's. But having been to the stores, sales seem to have been solid. But there's the potential that the leg defect might deter Hasbro from doing big vehicles again.

Anyways, I'm just giving you a hard time. It's great that it looks like a Turbo Tank actually is coming and I think most of us around here are looking forward to it.

Yeah, I saw it and the news is great. I guess I'm just not going to get too excited until we see pics... but I really do think that it's going to kick ass... and more than anything, I want to surround it with McQuarrie Snowtroopers.

Yeah, I saw it and the news is great. I guess I'm just not going to get too excited until we see pics... but I really do think that it's going to kick ass... and more than anything, I want to surround it with McQuarrie Snowtroopers.

Don't forget to through in the Hoth speeder bike patrol guys in too

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Harmless is the most dangerous of perceptions, you never expect it to strike.-Purge

Just bumping this up since Toy Fair is coming up this weekend (right?). What is everyone hoping, or expecting, to see for the Star Wars line? Personally, I think we should at least see the next two waves of TLC (AOTC and ROTJ) since we've already seen protos for some of those in SW Insider. It would be nice to get a little peek beyond that as well. Hopefully we'll see a look at the Evolutions packs due this spring, but wasn't there news that those were to possibly be retailer exclusives? If so, maybe we won't see those. I hope we get a good look at the actual Juggernaut toy, and learn more about that as well. Other than that, I hope there are a few surprises that we haven't seen or heard about much. Anyways, I'm really looking forward to seeing what SW has in store for the first part of this year. It was nice seeing all the Marvel/DC related stuff from NYCC this past weekend, but I sort of missed seeing SW.

Seeing the Juggernaught compared to figures will be nice too, if they roll it out. Beyond that, just seeing some future figures will be nice, and maybe we'll even hear some surprises... TF usually doesn't shock anyone, but you never know.